Category: Renovations

Well things are moving along right on schedule, or even a bit ahead of schedule! The plumbers were in today to hook everything back up including the faucets, toilet, and the crazy shower.

It really is coming together. All that is left is a bit of finishing on the tiles, the outstanding timer for the fan, and the accessories (towel bars and toilet paper holder) – for the trades that is. I still have a significant amount of work to get the window wrangled into shape, trim painted, and the final touch-ups completed on the wall paint that is already in place. But that is for later. Right now I want to focus on the plumbing.

First, is the toilet – not much to say here as we are reusing the Toto that we had in place before.

It was in the house when we bought it so I can’t tell you what model it is. May be buried in some of the paperwork that was left behind but I’m not inclined to go looking. Suffice to say that we’ve been very happy with it so no need to fix what ain’t broken. Beside, with the style of tank cover and the porcelain flush lever, it just looks like it belongs.

I know that I put a post up of the faucets before they were installed but here is how they look in place – exactly what we were looking for.

They are from the Grohe Seabury line in StarLight Chrome (very poetic). I think they definitely capture the Victorian sensibility of the room. But, as much as much as I like the faucets, it is the Sign of the Crab shower fixture that is my favorite part.

It is as much a piece of sculpture as it is a functional shower unit (complete with thermostatic temperature control). No need to compromise form for function here as was the case with the counter top – this is ticks of all the boxes. Also very much in keeping with the Victorian ethos of making even the ordinary look extraordinary as I’ve written about before. I really want to give it a try though that will have to wait until the silicon goes in for the corners of the tile and we get a shower rod and curtain.

Speaking of the shower curtain rod, we’ve been putting off its purchase because it is another place where we are struggling with form and function. On one hand, a curved shower rod provides a feeling of space in the shower that may otherwise feel a touch cramped. On the other hand, the curved rod definitely has a modern feel to it and will go against the traditional approach we took to the room. That said, we’re at the breaking point and will need to make a decision on that tonight so stay tuned.

Now to just get the window completed…

People interested in seeing the full renovation process as tracked in this blog should start here.

OK, as I mentioned in an earlier blog post, the wonderful new lighting in the bathroom has highlighted just what a state the paint on the original window is in. There are a litany of challenges, both simple and complex, to address including:

The many, many layers of paint that have been deposited, chipped, and redeposited over the years.

The need to integrate the strip of new pine that was inserted between the casing and the trim to adjust for the new depth of the wall.

The need to address the flat, unadorned trim itself – it’s not that it needs to be fancy but should at least mirror the trim that is around the door.

Repair the multitude of dings, gouges, and chipped edges of the window stool (the flat portion of the frame at the bottom inside of the window).

Free up the painted on stop on the left hand side so that I can eventually take the window apart and restore it from its current painted over single hung action to the double hung function it originally had.

Other things that I’m sure I’m forgetting.

Unfortunately, I thought of almost none of these ahead of time.

As the trim had come off during the demo, I at least had the foresight to strip them of their paint and re-prime them before installation. This included an epoxy repair to correct some damage to the top right corner from the removal itself. The result is what you see in the picture above – the dark patches are the filler that the contractor used when re-installing the trim. I figured an easy upgrade was to add on some L-trim on the two exposed edges so that the window would match the door.

All good here though I had to cope the shape of the chair rail into the left hand molding since, as I mentioned, I didn’t plan ahead to have this done before the tiling happened. Still the results look good – just need to fill the nail holes and all done, right? Not so fast…

It is at this point that I should warn you to be careful what you start. As I was getting ready to paint the trim, I realized that the casing where the new pine strip was inserted would not look particularly nice if I just tried to slather yet another coat of paint over it and re-install the blinds.

Alright then – guess I’m stripping the side casing so I can clean up the transition between the old and the new and end up with a lovely smooth single casing.

Hmmm, guess that top casing will need to be done too. Oh, and the stool at the bottom, that has clearly taken a beating over the years and needs a bit of love before getting a new coat of paint. And the sash stops, can’t leave them out of the party…

Cut to 11:45 PM and me still trying to finish that “little bit of stripping” that I started. Finally had to call it a night. This is how it sits at the moment (if you’re wondering why it is so light out at just before midnight, the pictures are from the morning after – was too tired to even get my camera last night).

I’m certain this will look amazing when it’s done but right now, all I can see is another 5 hours of heating, scraping, sanding, and all the other aspects of a dirty job like restoring old windows. And that is just to get the paint off! Still need to patch and fill the wood and get everything sanded down. More to come, stay tuned…

People interested in seeing the full renovation process as tracked in this blog should start here.

We now have light! Actually, we have, in a more general sense, electricity. There was apparently a hole in their schedule so the electrician showed up a day early to put in the lights and wire up the switches, outlets, and timer.

Heidi and I both really like the look of the schoolhouse style glass globes so even though they were originally used in kitchens, libraries, and, I assume schoolhouses in the 1920’s we are using them in the bathroom of our 1886 Victorian.

We spent a lot of time looking at different suppliers to try and find a 5 light bar for above the mirror and a matching ceiling fixture but were only able to get a 4 light version. Looking at it now, I’m quite happy with how it turned out. Given the size of the globes, I think that a 5 light version may have been too much.

4 light vanity fixture. The horizontal dark bars in the picture are an artifact of my phone camera being pointed directly at the lights I believe.

For those that are interested, the fixtures are from Sea Gull Lighting‘s Academy line and are remarkably inexpensive compared to other options. We selected the chrome finish as this, along with the details of the metal work, will be mirrored nicely in the faucet and shower hardware once they are in place.

Combined with the white tile and satin white ceiling, they throw a lot of light. Either fixture alone is enough to light the entire room and the two together make it glow!

There was only one small issue that still needed to be dealt with. It seems that the original mechanical fan timer that we had in the room functioned without needing a neutral wire. Unfortunately the electronic replacement that was supposed to replace it does require a neutral – something that wasn’t picked up during the electrical rough-in.

After 10 minutes, or so, of considering where we would need to open a wall to get the appropriate wiring in place (not having a timer is not an option), our electrician suggested that they will try and source a timer that doesn’t need a neutral. Brilliant – not sure why it didn’t even cross my mind to think of that. A quick look on the internet confirms that such a beast exists and is easily available so should have something that doesn’t require so much twisting and noise shortly. In the meantime, the original mechanical timer is back in place.

Finally, just a note on the light switch. Some of you may wonder why we didn’t choose the more modern “Decora” style flat switches. It is really just a preference on our part and Heidi leans strongly to the traditional toggle style. Neither is remotely appropriate for a house of our era.

In our last house, also an 1880’s build, we started to replace some of the light switches with modern push button replicas by Classic Accents. They are CSA approved and UL listed so you get all of the cool period appropriate feel without any safety concerns. They’re great but we just haven’t gotten to doing anything like that here yet. Not sure that it would work for this bathroom anyway as we would have an ultra-modern fan timer next to a push button switch. Could be a bit of discord there.

One unexpected challenge with all this new light is how it highlights clearly the incomplete window trim. But that needs a post of its own.

People interested in seeing the full renovation process as tracked in this blog should start here.

The tiles are done! The tiles guys were here today to finish the last of the tiles and do the grouting. Things look great! Not much else to say so here are some pictures of where it stands as of today.

Just the final parts to finish up. Electrical and plumbing then paint clean up and trim!

Although this blog is associated with the bathroom renovation, it talks about something that I did as a result of convenience rather than anything that was required a for a bathroom.

A side effect of working in the tech sector is that you have a focus on technology in the home that tends to excess. As a result of this, and the fact that poor Wi-Fi coverage is something that drives me nuts, I have an array of Ubiquiti UniFi access points throughout the house. Definitely more commercial than the average home owner needs but, like I said, I’m a techie. Also, in my defense, the double brick construction of our house with 18″ solid wall separating some of the rooms plays havoc with coverage – particular at the extreme ends of our long, skinny layout.

So, as we had the walls open and were pulling wire from the basement for an new electrical circuit anyway, I took the opportunity to bring up an Ethernet cable to the bathroom, a part of the house near the far end of the upstairs. The nice thing about the UniFi AP AC Pro is that it uses standard Power Over Ethernet (POE) so that there is no need to have a separate wall wart plugged in to power it. The result is a nice clean installation with both network connectivity and power provided through the same Ethernet cable. As a side note, these access points do require that you run a separate management server to configure them so are likely not a good option for anyone that doesn’t have a reasonably good grasp of tech (particularly networking).

The end result is an unobtrusive installation on the ceiling that provides excellent Wi-Fi coverage to a part of the house that was under served up to this point.

People interested in seeing the full renovation process as tracked in this blog should start here.

The bathroom is making forward progress again. Today they came and installed the vanity counter top and the under-mount sinks.

They’re pretty efficient – the whole thing was done in well under an hour. Overall the bathroom is coming together quite nicely. I have to admit that it would have been nice to put in a real marble top as you can definitely tell that this is synthetic from the faux grain (closer look below) but this is one of those times that function has to trump form. Real white marble would have had a tough time living with three teenage girls and their assortment of makeup and such (I’m only assuming, that’s not actually an issue yet at all). I’ve heard a bunch of horror stories about how easily it stains.

For those interested, the sink basins are Kohler Caxtons in white – pretty standard stuff but work really well for what we needed.

The tile should be finishing up either tomorrow or the day after and then plumber and electrician the following couple of days with a target completion of the end of the week.

People interested in seeing the full renovation process as tracked in this blog should start here.

While we are waiting for the vanity top to come in, I’ve been poking around the fixtures in anticipation. Here is a picture of the basin faucet parts – should look good when installed and fits with the style of the shower fixtures.

For those that are interested, the faucet is a Grohe Seabury in chrome. We looked at a ton of options for this, including some very expensive DMV (formerly Porcher) selections. This one was the best match for what we wanted – and I always like the little ceramic buttons on the cross handles.

People interested in seeing the full renovation process as tracked in this blog should start here.

Well, it turns out that we didn’t have to wait as long as expected to see changes in the bathroom.

The tile folks were back again to finish up the tiling in the bathtub alcove including the niche on the back wall of the shower. The two marble shelves are now in place and things are looking great!

Even a good chunk of the final wall been completed now though the final bit – a couple of rows of tile and the chair rail – will have to wait until the counter top is in place. Then there is only the grout to go and the tile will be complete.

On another positive note, we have a date for the counter top as well. The counter folks will be in one week from today to install it. Almost complete!

People interested in seeing the full renovation process as tracked in this blog should start here.

I guess I’m already getting stir crazy waiting for the counter top to be finished and it has only been one day! In any case, it has given me a chance to start peeking into boxes to see the plumbing that will be going in a couple of weeks. The centerpiece of the plumbing is the Sign of the Crab exposed plumbing shower controls.

A complex concoction of solid brass and chrome. Heidi says it has a submarine feel to it and thinks we may have attach a user manual to the side to help people figure out how to use it. To me it represents a wonderful combination of sculpture and function. It’s a lot easier to use than it appears at first glance – actually simpler than traditional taps with diverter valves.

The folks at Sign of the Crab cater to people like us that have a penchant for the Victorian, something very apparent with this particular piece. One of the defining characteristics of the Victorians was the importance placed on beauty and embellishment. Even utilitarian subjects like plumbing were raised to an art form and then exposed to show them off. The same thing can be seen in wood working tools from the era. Who says you can have form and function in the same object!

This definitely gets at the traditional vibe that we are going for in the bathroom. I can’t wait to see what it will look like when its actually installed.

People interested in seeing the full renovation process as tracked in this blog should start here.

The cabinets are in – and they look very good. Seems like there will be a lot more storage than I was actually expecting there to be. Heidi thinks that they are deeper than she expected. Probably a good thing with three girls in the house, it is likely to be covered with all sorts of stuff shortly.

It is all starting to come together but now things will slow down for a bit. The stone guys will be in tomorrow morning to create a template for the counter top but it is likely a couple of weeks from then before they will be ready to put it in. In the meantime, there is a little bit more tiling that can be finished in the tube alcove but the last wall along the cabinets will have to wait until the counter is in place.

I guess I can take the time to do some painting and get the trim done. Have to wait and see what my motivation level is like 🙂

People interested in seeing the full renovation process as tracked in this blog should start here.